Decorator&#39;s square and level



VAug. 20, 1957 G. w. DUTCHER '2,303,062

- DEcoRAToR's SQUARE AND LEVEL Filed Aug. 28, 1955 ATTORNEY VENTOR United States Patent O DECORATGRS SQUARE AND LEVEL Garner W. Butcher, London, @hic Application August 28, 1953, Serial No. 377,090

6 Claims. (Cl. 33-89) This invention relates to an improved combination square and spirit level adapted particularly for use by interior decorators, painters and paper hangers in the correct placement or hanging of sheets or panels of wall-covering and forming materials, or in painting or other similar decoration of room walls.

In the hanging of wallpaper, and other similar strips of wall-covering material, decorators, in obtaining good workmanship, are faced with the problem of applying the ystrips on wall surfaces with the strips disposed in truly vertical order. This is done so that the wallpaper may be properly placed on a wall irrespective of possible out-of-plumb conditions of related window and door frames and side wall and ceiling corners.

Also, in the proper hanging of wallpaper, it is necessary to sever the paper rolls transversely to form strips of desired length. ln such an operation, it is important that the severed edges of the strip be disposed perpendicularly to the selvage or leading edges of said strips. Similar problems or conditions are also encountered in the painting of room walls in securing an orderly arrangement or placement of designs or panels on predetermined surface areas of such walls. At present, it is a common practice for paper hangers and painters to employ ordinary yardsticks as a measuring and guiding means in attempts to meet the practical problems or situations such as those above outlined, but such relatively crude devices or methods often fail in their intended purposes and, generally, have been inadequate and unsatisfactory in enabling interior decorators to produce high-grade work.

Therefore, it is a leading object of the present invention to provide a combined square and spirit level device formed especially for use by interior decorators, and other artisians, in providing a readily employable measuring instrumentality for facilitating the solution of the above and other technical problems incident to wallpaper hanging and wall decorating generally.

Another object of the invention is to provide a paperhangers square having rigid blades or legs disposed in relatively perpendicular order, and wherein the said blades or legs bear permanent scale graduations, denoting inches and fractions thereof, along their outer linear edges.

The invention further comprehends a square of this nature wherein one of the blades or legs thereof is formed with spaced pairs of inwardly projecting parallel guide members, the latter being so formed as to provide between each pair thereof a guide channel which lies in the plane of the blade or leg of the square upon which the guide members are carried. ln accordance with the invention, the channels of these guide members are disposed in longitudinally aligned order and adapted for the reception of the selvage edge regions of a strip of wallpaper placed therein, whereby to maintain the selvage edge proper of the strip in extended longitudinal contact with the inner straight edge of the leg or blade of the square carrying said guide members, enabling, under such conditions, the other leg of the square to be placed upon the paper strip to clamp and hold the same against an associated base surface, particularly while the strip is torn orsevered transversely thereof through contact with the outer edge of the strip-clamping or holding leg or blade and along which latter the tearing or other severing of the strip takes place, thus assuring that the torn or severed edge of the strip will be disposed perpendicularly with respect to its channel-held selvage edge.

The invention further consists in providing a decorators square of the character set forth in which one of the channel-forming guide members is provided with an adjustable spirit level, whereby through the use of which a painter or paper hanger may draw or otherwise inscribe truly vertical guide lines or points and perpendiculars thereto on a wall surface for the proper application of wallpaper, painted designs or the like thereto.

For a further understanding of the invention, including additional objects and advantages thereof, reference is to be had to the following description and the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Fig. l is a perspective View of a decorators square formed in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary front elevational view of the square, illustrating the same on a somewhat larger scale than that disclosed in Fig. l;

Fig, 3 is a horizontal sectional view taken on the plane indicated by the line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 isa vertical sectional view on the line 4-4 of Fig. 2.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, the present invention provides a decorators square, which is indicated in its entirety by the letter S. The square comprises a right angular metallic or other rigid body composed of a pair of integrally united blades or legs shown at 1 and 2. For convenience in description, the blade or leg 1 may be referred to as the vertical blade or leg andthe blade or leg 2 as the horizontal blade or leg. In this instance said blades or legs have their opposite flat surfaces 3 provided along their outer longitudinally extending edges 4 with linear graduations 5, representing inches and fractions thereof, or other units of linear measurement.

The vertical leg l is, in the form of the invention illustrated, provided with longitudinally spaced pairs of guide members which project inwardly of the square in relatively parallel order. Each pair of these guide members comprises an inner bar 6 and an outer bar 7, the outer bar being shorter in length than the inner bar. The inner bar has a flat outer surface 3 which is disposed in a place flush with that of the under or inner surface 3 of the leg 1, as shown in Fig. 3, so that the square may be placed flatly on or against a base surface 13. The outer bar 7 is spaced from the inner bar 6 of each guide member to form therein an open-ended channel 9. These channels of said guide members are adapted to receive the selvage edge region of a sheet or roll lltl of rwallpaper or the like with the leading or selvage edge 11 of said roll or sheet in Contact with the inner linear edge 12 of the vertical leg 1.

Through this construction, it will be seen that the square may be placed on the leading or selvage edge region of a roll or sheet of wallpaper and with the inner surface of the blade or leg 2 bearing upon said sheet or roll to hold the same in a clamped position in relation to an associated base surface 13, When so held, the paper may be torn or severed transversely thereof along the linear line provided by the outer edge 14 of the horizontal leg 2, thus assuring the operator that the torn or severed edge of the sheet will be precisely at right angles to the selvage or leading edge of the sheet. The outer ends of the bars 6 and 7 may be beveled to facilitate insertion of the paper sheet in the channels 9 of the guide members.

In this instance, the outer bar 7 of the upper of the guide members carries a spirit level 15. The casing of the level is formed with a depending tongue 16 which is apertured for the reception of a threaded stud 17 which projects stationarily and outwardly from the bar 7, the outer end of the stud being equipped with a wing nut or its equivalent 18, to that the operating position of the spirit level may be adjusted by turning movement thereof about the axis provided by the stud 17, and adjustment maintained by the tightening of the wing nut 18. This construction is important in ascertaining accurately the -verticality of the leg 1 in its application to wall surfaces.

In the use of my improved square, the selvage or leading side edge of a strip of wallpaper, or the like, is placed between the bars 6 and 7 of the guide member in order to occupy the channel 9. This also brings the selvage edge into extended linear contact with the inner edge 12 of the leg or blade 1 of the square. The leg or blade 2 of the square is then placed on the paper sheet or strip and the latter is torn or otherwise severed along the edge 14 of the leg or blade 2 of said square, thus making the torn or severed edge perfectly square with the selvage edge of the sheet or strip, so that all sheets or strips for a given room will be equally square. This operation is often performed with a common yardstick but because of the physical limitations of the stick with indifferent or inaccurate results.

The spirit level on my improved square may be used to plumb a sheet or strip of wallpaper by drawing a correct perpendicular line of required distance from a wall corner and thereafter hanging a first strip of paper by it, an operation which is quite necessary when good Workmanship is desired. Also, by having the spirit level at the position shown on the square, it is possible for a painter to draw with a pencil or the like a perfectly perpendicular or horizontal quite line on a wall surface for work placement, or to mark a corner, or other position, for a paneling operation. The device of the present invention may also be used for other difficult to square materials, such as plastic sheets, linoleum types of wall coverings, panels or other like materials necessitating position-establishing guides.

While I have described what I consider to be at present a desirable practical form of my improved square, nevertheless it will be understood that the construction is subject to certain variation or modification within the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

l. A decorators square comprising; a rigid flatsided body composed of a pair of relatively perpendicularly extending blade members, each of said members having parallel longitdinally extending inner and outer edges,

said blade members being arranged in the same plane to maintain said edge in extended registry With the inner longitudinal edge of the blade member on which said guide members are carried.

2. A decorators square as defined in claim 1, and wherein one of the guide members is provided with a fulcrum, and a spirit level rockable on said fulcrum.

3. A decorators square as specified in claim 1, and wherein said guide members comprise pairs of spaced bars carried by one of said blade members, the said bars being spaced relatively to produce said channel.

4. A decorators square as dened in claim l and wherein said guide members comprise longitudinally spaced pairs of bars mounted on one of said blade members and projecting inwardly and laterally from the inner longitudinal edge of the blade member containing the same and in parallel relation to the other of said blade members, each pair of said bars being relatively spaced to form between them a sheet-receiving channel which is disposed in the plane of the blade member of the square carrying said bars.

5. A decorators square as defined in claim l and wherein said guide members comprise longitudinally spaced pairs of bars mounted on one of said blade members and projecting inwardly and laterally from the inner longitudinal edge of the blade member containing the same and in parallel relation to the other of said blade members, each pair of said bars being relatively spaced to form between them a sheet-receiving channel which is disposed in the plane of the blade member of the square carrying said bars, one of said bars of each pair of guide members being shorter in length than its complemental bar.

6. A decorators square comprising# a rigid body composed of a pair of relatively perpendicularly extending blade members arranged in a common plane and having merging ends, each of said blade members providing parallel inner and outer longitudinally extending edges and flat front and back parallel surfaces bearing linear scale graduations, and longitudinally spaced pairs of inner and outer guide bars rigidly mounted on the front and back surfaces of one of said blade members, said bars projecting inwardly and laterally from the inner longitudinal edge of the blade member carrying the same and in parallel relation to the inner edge of the other of said blade members, each adjoining pair of inner and outer bars being relatively spaced to form between the same an open-ended sheet-receiving channel, the back surfaces of the inner bars being disposed in the same plane as the back surfaces of the blade members to enable the square to be placed atly on a planar base surface, the closed end of each channel being dened by the inner longitudinal edge of the blade member carrying said bars.

References Cited in the le of this patent vUNITED STATES PATENTS 635,050 Macfarren Oct. 17, 1889 739,2l0 Oesterreich Sept. l5, 1903 814,157 Norfolk Mar. 6, 1906 1,279,776 Stackpole Sept. 24, 1918 1,727,120 Williams Sept. 3, 1929 2,213,148 Pyle Aug. 27, 1940 2,624,118 Anderson lan. 6, 1953 

